How Team Building Can Help Break The Silence Created By Silos

Are there individuals or departments within you company that refuse to interact or acknowledge one another? If so, then you have silos in your organization and you are not alone.

We have discussed silos before in our “Functional Silos & What to Do About Them” blog, but we thought it was time to revisit this topic as the issue of silos seems to continue to affect many organizations. While our previous entry is more informational in the fact that it defines what is and how you can address this issue, we thought it would be beneficial for us to discuss how team uilding can help “break the silence.”

How can a team building exercise break the silence created by silos?

At Team Builders Plus, we have a team development program “Breaking Down Silos: Unleash the Power of Alignment,” that organizations, companies, etc. can use to help correct this behavior. Although this team development program is less adventurous than some of our other team building activities, the purpose of it is still the same…

You want to establish trust between employees and/or departments, as well as help them realize how they all work together to achieve a common goal—success for the company. These are just two of the things that our Breaking Down Silos program addresses.

Improve communication with our silos team development program.

Miscommunication—or even worse, no communication between different departments within a company often leads to disaster. Without proper communication people obviously become frustrated with one another. This frustration can affect the lifeblood of an organization—its clients or customers. With us, employees will learn:

• Why trust and respect between different departments is vital to the company’s overall success.
• How communication issues can affect all aspects of the company.
• How they can improve relationships, identify the cause of the silos, and how they can prevent them from forming in the future.

How can you start breaking the silence?
As the leader of your organization, you need to accept that you might be the underlying cause of the silos. Don’t just blame the way people are acting on immaturity or think that they can’t just get along. In fact, these behaviors are usually a result of the silos that you have let form within your organization.

Lead by example!
Taking responsibility and breaking down the walls built by the silos is the first step in addressing the issues within your organization. From there, you and the leadership team (who should be working harmoniously together), should demonstrate how and why you work together to achieve a common goal.

Common goals keep people playing nice.
To further break the silo way of thinking, it is important that you spend time developing ground rules so that no department feels the need to outshine the other. In the end, if they are all aware of what they are doing and how it affects the overall health of the company, you will find that everyone will be more than willing to work together.

If you desire to break the ice and create a unified vision and mission within your organization, Team Builders Plus can help.